Hello Everyone:

Slow, slow weight loss over the last year has disenchanted me with the adjustable gastric band. I discusssed this with my surgeon and he jumped right on plans to remove the band and perform the sleeve procedure. When I had my lapband installed a year ago, my insusrance did not cover the sleeve. Now, we are covered by United Health which does cover the sleeve procdure!

It's scary, but it has to be the best decision for me. After one year with the band, and only 28 lbs lost, I'm ready for a change.

Any thoughts are welcomed!

Cheers!

Mary

I love my sleeve. My surgery was almost four weeks ago and I have lost 22 pounds so far. I considered getting the lap band, but realized the sleeve was the better option. I hope things go well for you.

I went through the whole process, approx nine months to get the lap band. Even attempted the pre op diet and had my surgery scheduled and chickened out. So many people I have seen banded don't lost weight or regain it. I agree with your decision to get the sleeve. I see so many people succeeding with this procedure. Good Luck

Mary,

I work for my surgeon who did my sleeve. Our office also does the band and have been doing them since 2003. I can not tell you how many of our patients we are switching from the band to the sleeve. They were all having a very slow weight loss and even with many adjustments. So if you have the chance and insurance will pay for it. Go For It.

Good luck to you.

Laura

Hi Laura,

Why would so many people have the lapband, and then go to the sleeve, if they were happy with the band. Going to the sleeve to be successful is the way to go.

Good luck

Happy New Year

kathy

Congratulations on your decision ! Deciding to do something so permanent has been the most difficult part for me. I am having surgery in Feb.

I do not have nor have never had a band (although I was headed for one, till I learned about the sleeve, the rest is history!) but I do have UnitedHealthCare and yes they did cover not only my sleeve but that of my husbands as well. We had a high-ded. plan and we had our surgeries in two diff. years (me 2010, him 2011) and so we had to hit our $5K ded. each calendar year then they paid 90% and we paid 10% on any remainder after we paid the $5K.

BUT every plan is different, so definitely call and find out exactly what YOUR requirements are. We each had to do supervised "check-ins" (not necessarily a diet) for 6 months prior to submitting to be approved.

Our surgeon is primarily a band/bypass dr. but his number of sleeves is increasing and I'm shocked to find him actually steer people away from the band. (happily shocked!) My personal opinion is that the band should be marketed as TEMPORARY. That is how I view the band. The VSG is permanent. Isn't that what we all want? Something that will permanently help us lose weight and keep it off?

Best of luck to you in your journey, I am hoping you can revise soon!

Mary, I'm a Band-to-sleeve revision. The restricted eating with the Band helped me get used to the requirements of the sleeve. I'm still struggling to get in enough water. But, for me, the main difference is the vitamin/mineral/protein requirement that wasn't as much of an issue with the Band. The parts of the stomach that made it possible to absorb B-12 and calcium are mostly gone. Almost three weeks out, and I'm just about to a workable routine. It can be a bit tricky. But I'm losing weight at a much faster clip than with the Band. I, too, wish that I had done the revision years ago.

Hello again, everyone and thank you for all your helpful and informative posts.

A few people from my workplace have had the sleeve procedure covered by United Health, so I am pretty confident that being covered won't be a big issue. My surgeon told me he will write United Health a letter explaining the band failure and the need to switch, as my co-morbidities have not gone away, and neither has about 65 more lbs..

I have been seeing a nutritionist pretty religiously for the last year, just about every other week. The weight is coming off, but at a painfully slow pace. I'm not into instant gratification, but after one year, I should be progressing a bit faster than at the rate of a little over 2 lbs per month, especially after undergoing a surgical procedure!

I'm so glad to hear all your stories and comments because I am feeling a bit hesitant about "going under the knife" again as they say....but really need to move on with this process.

Thanks so much for your support!

Mary